Interesting review, Gordon . You must be proud, having been able to publish an in-depth review before a couple of other major sites!

While Canon's Rebel/XX0D series may be excellent cameras to start with, I think Canon has improved very little compared to the 450D. They haven't introduced anything really new or impressive in my opinion. The 500D, 550D and the 600D in particular are just minor updates of the same camera.

I agree, a bit.
The 450D was a huge camera, compared to the 400D and other DSLRs that time.
But, the xxxD cameras are very good starter's cameras, as long as you dont want to upgrade from the 550D to the 600D...

Another great review from Gordon. BTW, if you drop the value score from the rating the 600D rates a 90%!!!!

One interesting observation is the Image Quality Score. Despite many people asking/expecting an improved sensor the "old" 18mp sensor still delivers fantastic results (19/20). This is still as good (if not better) as what the new Sony and Panasonic offer?!

...time to update the 60D ranking from Recommended to Highly Recommended?

Ruben, I switched from doing crops myself to providing links to the original images a few reviews back - we've actually been doing it for ages on the point-and-shoot reviews. I think it's more useful for people to have access to the entire image than just a few selected areas.

Joris, I agree, there's not any massive innovation here, but to let that cloud your overall opinion would be doing the camera a disservice. Look at it as a new camera for someone, probably not upgrading from the previous couple of models. It really does deliver a lot of features for the money, although as I said in the verdict, if you want faster shooting or continous movie AF, the Sony SLTs make more sense.

Howzit, I think the Canon 18 Mpixel sensor is excellent - just like the Nikon 12 Mpixel one a while back. Why should they change it? Few people need higher resolutions, and companies will rarely step back for improved noise or tonal range. I think it strikes a good balance between resolving power and noise levels.

janern, I used the 70-300mm DO lens, only becuase it was what I had available at the time. Since only the middle of the frame is being used for the crop movie mode, most lenses will perform very well with it. For me, it's a real killer feature.

The 550D was brought out with a new sensor and an articulated screen, which some users had been waiting a while for. They also introduced auto focus in live mode from the shutter release..

For the sake of clarity, you do mean the 600D, don't you ? It's getting rather confusing, all these (very similar) cameras...

Quite frankly, I think the 18 MP sensor might be the very same sensor Canon has used previously in its 550D/60D/7D. I like the fact they added a swiveling screen (at last!) though.

But I think that if I had a 600D, I would rather focus manually instead of using the 'autofocus' which essentially does nothing but refocus when you push the shutter release. And it goes very, very slow.

From Gordon's review (thanks again, Gordon):

Gordon Laing wrote:

Like the EOS 60D, EOS 550D / T2i and EOS 7D before it, the EOS 600D / T3i offers auto-focusing while filming, but before you get too excited, it's fairly useless. First of all, it doesn't operate continuously like a camcorder. Instead it only refocuses when you half-press the shutter release and worse, takes several seconds to do so using the contrast-based Live mode. So while you can refocus while filming, you'll just end up recording the leisurely adjustment process. To be fair, it's occasionally handy for ensuring the subject is in focus without manually adjusting the lens or exiting to make an automatic reading, but it's a process you'll definitely want to edit out later.

Although the HD Video, as well as other things, drew me to purchase the 500D, I usually accociate DSLRs as stills cameras.

If I wanted to film with an SLR lens, then I would be looking at the Sony NEX series or something along those lines, budget determining, obviously.

Canon seem to be renewing all of their consumer DSLRs at the moment, and they do share similarity with the exterior design and functions, such as the articulated screens and wireless flash control etc.

I am interested in photography, but seeing all of these new upgrades do not bother me personally, I am happy with my existing camera, and I am sure that others will agree too, based on their investments.

I am new here, having newly jumped into the photography bandwagon. I have been using a KM A200 P&S for years and now thinking of buying my first dSLR.

May I know what you think about Canon's new "Scene Intelligent Auto mode"? The 600D is the first camera with it. Neither the 60D nor the 1100D have it. The SLTs only have "face detection". I don't think this will match the "intelligence" the 600D will exhibit with "Scene Intelligent Auto mode".

The mode seemed to work quite well in my limited tests with it, but it didn't offer the same degree of scene recognition as a camera operating in 100% live view, like a compact point-and-shoot. If you want a camera which automatically and quickly switches between portrait, landscape, night, macro, backlit situations etc, you should stick with a non-DSLR.

But as I said, it still works pretty well for general situations, and even normal Program mode can be very effective - I used Program for most of my gallery sample images and they look fine. (albeit none in very challenging conditions).

Canon finally upgraded(?) its kit lens to the 18-55mm IS II lens. But, what improvements does this lens offer over the previous version? Is it just that this one "claims" upto 4 stops of compensation in the IS compared to 3 stops on the older one, or are the optics improved too? The older kit lens was pale in comparison to even the Nikkor kit lens. Does the new one change this?